MAS launches Payments Council chaired by its MD Ravi Menon

A PAYMENTS council - comprising 20 leaders from banks, payment service providers, businesses and trade associations - will be established to help Singapore transform into an e-payments society, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on Wednesday.

The council is part of a series of initiatives by the MAS, which includes facilitating the development of seamless payments solutions such as PayNow; supporting the introduction and rollout of unified point-of-sale terminals at merchants; and introducing new payments legislation to safeguard consumer interests and facilitate innovative payment solutions.

The Payments Council will formally bring together both the providers and users of payment services in Singapore. Members will be appointed for a two-year term.

It will encourage collaboration within the payments industry; promote interoperability among e-payments solutions; develop strategies to drive the adoption of e-payments; and advise and make recommendations to MAS on payments related policies; according to the statement.

The Payments Council will be chaired by Ravi Menon, managing director, MAS.

Mr Menon said: "We have many good e-payment solutions in Singapore. We need to make them more inter-operable and better integrate them with individual and business use cases so that more people will adopt e-payments. The Payments Council brings together the various parties that can help achieve this. Our mission is to make e-payments simple, seamless and secure for all Singaporeans."